Kate Middleton Wedding Dress Nominated For Design Award -- What Could Beat It? (PHOTOS)

PHOTOS: Is Kate Middleton's Wedding Dress The Best Design Of 2011?

Was Kate Middleton's wedding dress, designed by Alexander McQueen's Sarah Burton, the best design of 2011?

It just might be. The Design Museum, London's innovative center for design exhibitions and education, has released its nominees for Designs of the Year 2012, choosing the most outstanding designs of the past year in seven categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics and Transport and Product.

And while there were thousands of fashion items designed in the past year, from high-street garments to runway looks, only ten designs made the cut -- including the Alexander McQueen wedding day creation made special for Catherine.

Ironically, Kate's dress is up against another McQueen design -- or rather several designs. "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty," the blockbuster exhibition mounted by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art this summer, is also nominated in the fashion category.

The exhibition made Alexander McQueen, who died in 2010, a household name and drew a record 661,509 visitors to the Met, making it the museum's eighth most popular exhibit in 141 years.

Now Londoners will get a glimpse at the exhibit. The Design Museum announced that the nominees for Designs of the Year 2012 will be on display in their own exhibition, including a video tour of the Met's original "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty," to run from February 8 through July 15.

Unfortunately, Kate's dress will be a notable absence. The Telegraph reports that due to security concerns, the dress will not appear in the exhibition and a tribute (perhaps with royal wedding footage??) will be featured in its place.

But enough about The Dress -- who else was nominated for fashion's Designs of the Year 2012? Check them all out in the slideshow below and stay tuned for the winner, to be announced in April.

Duchess Of Cambridge's Wedding Dress

Design Awards 2011

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